Month: April 2024

Monday

During the night I removed the hard drives from five of six of my “Puppies” which are the Gateway/Acer Netbooks that carried me through all the trips to South America. It was MUCH easier to carry two netbooks than a full-size laptop. There are two left, my trusty “Perl” and the netbook that I’ve been using for Home Assistant programming. (Which I don’t do anymore.)

Made Eggs and Sausage links for breakfast.

Charged the three large tablets and let them update on the Internet. Working on the three small tablets and getting them updated, they were still charged even after sitting for a month. Looks like I have one lone ranger that’s too old to be updated.

Updating the 2nd Dell Latitude, it’s the one I loaned out for a while. These are Awesome laptops!

My IT microprocessor exposure is 2 phones, 1 Toshiba Laptop, 3 Dell Latitude laptops, 2 Intel NUC’s, 6 Tablets and one Acer Netbook. I shed 5 netbooks today.

Going to rain tomorrow, but it’s clear to keep my radio antenna connected today for WSPR.

Zaxby’s salads for lunch, it costs $22.24 for two salads which is less than roughly $45 at Longhorn’s, and you have to add the $15 Tip.

Worked on our Day Timers for several hours this afternoon after our nap.

Tacarta bible app has changed it’s name to Life Bible. I also realized that they changed the way to purchase bibles. If you want a offline bible you have to purchase the translation and the bible comes with it. If you purchase the bible app, it refuses to allow you to purchase the bible within the app. (Forcing you to subscribe to their service.)

1. Mark Phone Purchased ESV and KJV
2. Kathy’s Phone Purchased NIV
3. Teal vogtm11 subscription
4. Blue Downloaded NIV
5. Black Downloaded NIV
6. vogtma12 Downloaded NIV
7. vogtm13 Downloaded KJV
8. vogtm16 Downloaded NIV ASV

Tuesday

Tuned in my radio and I had a QSO with some one that I didn’t get their callsign or location. ARG… So, I setup a recorder today so that I can backtrack a contact to get it into the log.

We went to Longhorn’s for the first time in a month! They were all worried & wondering if we were ok. They seemed genuinely relieved to see us. We didn’t tip the entire staff like we’d done for the last three months. I think that bewildered them a little. On my side of the fence, I was trying to offload the Christmas spending while I had the ability. Now that I am paying taxes, that’s just out of my reach for now. We left the women with the Wife’s phone number so they can reach out to us if they need to.

Saw the Pee doc, he ordered a CAT Scan of my lower abdomen (Kidneys & Bladder)

Watched another Hallmark episode of the good witch and we realized that we were not watching them in order. (Even though I made a list for that purpose.)

Wednesday

Jeanie had the net this morning and no one was answering her call so I checked in on the WW Net this morning. It was a difficult net because of the propagation was bad.

Had two boiled eggs and sausage links for breakfast. I even remembered to take my morning pills!

The wife cleared the bed and did linens this morning, we spent about an hour looking over how our mattress is laid out. We ended up with this combination.

1. mattress
2. exercize pads
3. mattress topper
4. mattress pad
5. fitted sheet
6. top sheet
7. heated throws.

We eliminated the comforter, it’s too thick to dissipate the heat if we get too warm. The thin heated throws and the ceiling fans to cool us when we throw off the blankets seem to be very comfy at night.

Took a light nap and we’re having soup for lunch today, Longhorn salads for dinner with some friends.

Thursday

Tuned my radio onto Waterway this morning, 40M band is pretty bad this morning. My uncle didn’t hear my call.

We managed to misplace my Wife’s procedure book this morning, it took more than an hour to find it in the glove compartment of the car.

Combined all the pages for our two mini Day Timer books onto my laptop and started organizing them. It’s a great resource, but now there’s so many pages to keep track of.

Ordered a Queen size blanket to replace the three throws, they are just too short for a bed.

Went to Zaxby’s for lunch after our Nap. We worked on looking for the cleaning instructions for the Wife’s Invisalign braces. We spent a good deal of time cleaning her Invisalign braces today. We also ordered the crystals to sanitize them.

Friday

Still updating all the VPN routers with current firmware, I have 14 GL-iNet travel routers on my network. I also updated my two Raspi’s that are running Linux. I still cannot connect to a RASPI using RealVNC from Windows. (It works from other Raspi’s) I updated RealVNC viewer and it still couldn’t talk to the updated Raspi’s.

We received our new queen size electric blanket.

I converted my side to 9W DC power and I was comfy, it’s a little cooler than the throws were because the blanket is bigger.

Researched all the Hallmark “the good witch” movies and we’ve started watching them in order.

1. The Good Witch 2008, VUDU, Watched Friday 4 May
2. Garden, 2009, VUDU, Watched Friday 4 May
3. Gift, 2010, VUDU
4. Family, 2011, VUDU
5. Charm, 2012, VUDU
6. Destiny, 2013, VUDU
7. Wonder, 2014, VUDU
8. Halloween, 2015 Oct, Hallmark
9. Secrets of Grey House, 2016, Hallmark
10. Spellbound, 2017, Hallmark
11. Tale of Two Hearts, 2018, Hallmark
12. Curse from a rose, 2019, Hallmark

Saturday

MFJ is closing its manufacturing May 17 2024!

A little scatterbrained this morning, it’s 10:30 and I’ve spent most of the morning talking to my uncle and researching the closing of MFJ.

Made a list of my wireless routers to upgrade the passwords.

1. Slate 04
2. Mango 04
3. Opal 22
4. Mango 22
5. Creta 30
6. Slate AP
7. Mango AP

Set my WSPR TX power to 1W. (0.1W is received by only a couple stations and 2W is received by more than 10 stations.)

Zaxby’s for lunch and I’m needing another nap. My skin is tingling and my teeth are complaining that I haven’t brushed them.

Dropped off Lily’s BDay present and we headed back home. I rinsed with Hydrogen peroxide then mouthwash several times until the sensation calmed down.

1. The Good Witch 2008, VUDU, Watched Friday 4 May
2. The Good Witch Garden, 2009, VUDU, Watched Friday 4 May
3. The Good Witch Gift, 2010, VUDU, Watched Saturday
4. The Good Witch Family, 2011, VUDU, Started Saturday
5. The Good Witch Charm, 2012, VUDU
6. The Good Witch Destiny, 2013, VUDU
7. The Good Witch Wonder, 2014, VUDU
8. The Good Witch Halloween, 2015 Oct, Hallmark
9. The Good Witch Secrets of Grey House, 2016, Hallmark
10. The Good Witch Spellbound, 2017, Hallmark
11. The Good Witch Tale of Two Hearts, 2018, Hallmark
12. The Good Witch Curse from a rose, 2019, Hallmark

Sunday

I drank most of my cup of coffee before I realized that the coffee had sugar in it. My two teeth hadn’t been bothering me, but now they are sending me warnings. I flossed, brushed and rinsed with Hydrogen peroxide followed by mouthwash.

I have got to figure out how to divide the day into scriptable segments, what usually happens is that I chain one event right after another and forget what happened.

We went to Longhorn’s for lunch then took an hour nap. We’ve been working on the pill inventory since then. It started storming and the power flickered resetting some things like the stove clock.

Monday

Our bed with the 9W heated throws.

Checked in on WW and put a call out to Pacific Tax service in Las Vegas. I sent him all the information to his E-Mail address to do the final tax return. As far as I know the return does not need to be filed because we didn’t have any income produced during probate.

Tuesday

Nothing heard from Pacific Tax yet. I did get a question about a retirement celebration from doing the audio at church. That’s a terribly complicated story and I don’t feel I deserve more than others that have worked by my side.

Went to Wally World with groceries listed in our new shopping organizer.

We updated our house Day Timer and started on creating a list of homemaking chores for her procedure book. We’ve ended up with three binders to help organize our home. We have a desktop sized day Timer that we annotate daily tasks like appointments and such. We have two smaller 1/4 page binders that have procedures and the other one is a diary for the doctors.

Watched another “Murder She Baked” for our evening entertainment. There’s about six of them Alison Sweeney is one of her favorite actors from her soap opera’s.

Wednesday

Made a trip to get a CAT Scan done this morning, WW had closed down before I got back to the radio.

Took several cat naps as I am still nervous about the final estate return. (I still have not found their tax return from 2019.)

I did locate the refund from 2020 return that was deposited last year 2023. I can use that money to pay for the final estate tax return.

Audio talking points.

1. Others that have served as much or more than I have.
2. Others that are still serving.
3. Previous celebrations/accolades for servants.
4. Time spent serving like missed marriage retreats.
5. Setting up without help and no remorse.
6. Handicapped parking.
7. Setup in a new venue.
8. Setup every Sunday.
9. Running service.
10. Managing the contents of Public Storage.
11. Scripture on Giving, Serving for recognition.
    Mat 6:1  “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. Mat 6:2  “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. Mat 6:3  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, Mat 6:4  so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 
12. Scripture on Serving, Gifts of Grace
    1Pe 4:10  Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 
    Rom 12:3  For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Rom 12:4  For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, Rom 12:5  so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Rom 12:6  We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; Rom 12:7  if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; Rom 12:8  if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. 
13. Scripture on it’s God’s money.
    Mat 6:19  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Mat 6:20  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Mat 6:22  “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. Mat 6:23  But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Mat 6:24  “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. 

Thursday

Got onto WW this morning and checked in. Talked to my uncle for a good minute as well. I was unable to check the news this morning because it seems that OANN’s certificate is being denied by my browser.

I’ve checked two computers from two networks, and I got the same results.

Mailed the paperwork for our parents 2019 return, it can go three ways and I don’t have a clue how to fill out the forms. No word from Pacific Tax service, we’re on Day 4 and it’s 4PM in Vegas.

Spent the evening clearing the house for our morning guest tomorrow.

Friday

Made a few contacts on FT8 today at 5 in the morning, headed back to bed.

Checked in with Water Way this is the second time it didn’t go well and this time I was chastised for not listening before keying. I think that is the last call to the net.

Moved the cars so the guest can park in the driveway. Had a good long talk with the guest, it was very interesting to discuss African communities.

Saturday

We made a quick run to the Wally World to get a few things, normal shopping day is Tuesdays. I built some pages for the wife’s procedure book for her CPAP mask. Watched Hallmark Chronicle Mysteries with Alison

1. Recovered (Watched)
2. Wrong Man (Watched)
3. Vines that bind
4. The Deep end
5. Heliport to death
6. Series season 1&2 

Sunday

Got ready to go to church at a friend’s house. We made egg salad for lunch and brought seeded rye bread to put it on. I saved the remainder of the coffee, but didn’t drink it. Church service didn’t go well, and I didn’t like some of the decisions that were made. Home for our nap, dinner was soup and a movie.

Monday

Filed extension for our Fed Taxes, I didn’t have any information to file an extension to the estate taxes. Talked to our financial advisor about our finances and the estate taxes. Did some research on filing a final estate tax return which I was asked to do by the lawyers.

Tuesday (Day of rest)

I installed a doorbell on the house for the first time in almost 40 years.

We didn’t do much of anything during the day. I did manage to mow the lawn at sunset.

Wednesday

Back in the saddle again, Got onto WW Net this morning and I heard my Uncle check into the net. Had a cup of coffee while researching estate taxes.

Took a shower and gathered my thoughts on how to proceed. My O2 levels are not very good from last night.

I seem to have held my breath for about 45 seconds….

Converted the throws on our bed to low voltage so they constantly stay a little warm.

Thursday

Could not check in with WW this morning, they called me and then others broke in and NCC never came back to me. That kinda ends the time spent at 8AM on this net.

Zaxby’s for lunch most of the week, it’s healthy and we don’t have to expose them to our illness. (What ever that is, we know it makes us tired and prone to coughing.)

Had a long talk with my Cousin in Elgin, they were not affected by the tornadoes or inclement weather rolling through the area.

I have searched and cannot find the scanner or encrypted USB cards. I don’t know where either of them is. I wanted them to keep track of the estate letters from the IRS.

Have to change the wiring to the garage light, the IDC connection was quite warm this evening and I need to put the dehumidifier back on a timer so it doesn’t run during the heat of the day.

Checked Child Fund this morning and picked up two letters from Josephine.

Friday

Got up around 8AM and sent T some money for coffee. Checked in on WW, I wasn’t awake and did a terrible job. I really need to focus on other things for a while.

I put the timer on the dehumidifier so that it doesn’t add to the heat from the summertime weather during the day. I also changed out the IDC connector for a Power Pole connector on the LED light in the garage. (It’s good for 15 Amps which is considerably more than 1.5A.)

I connected the back yard solar panels to the van to charge up the battery. We haven’t driven either of the cars very much over the last couple weeks. I have considered tying the two unused vehicles batteries together so that they both stay charged.

Boxed up all the newspapers today. I really need to go through them to make sure that there’s not any mail folded up in them.

Research on the 1041 has yielded a possibility that the pretax money collected by the lawyers in the IOLTA may have to have taxes paid on them. As far as I know at the moment the year for the estate starts December 2nd and ends December 2nd. That means there are three years that have to be divided up.

Saturday

Checked in with WW, again it was awkward because NCC lost his radio during my check-in. It was noisy on the radio this morning and we doubled.

Started a laundry load of whites to replenish my socks.

We went over the day timer tasks for the day and looked for items that we needed to have before next Tuesday. (Assumed next grocery day.) We didn’t want to go into the grocery store on a busy day like to today with us being ill. (And possibly contagious)

Put the back yard solar panels on the Blue Focus, the battery was 12.4V. (Not too bad.)

It’s possible that we’d owe 7K in taxes for the estate if the expenses don’t offset that.

Looked for the Computer Share documentation all afternoon just to find out they were just where they were supposed to be! Scanned the papers that I think I’ll need then I’ll upload them to the estate website.

Watched a Hallmark movie before bed.

Sunday

Got onto WW this morning and there was no hiccups today, I did not hear my uncle this morning. Spent a couple of hours changing the names of the scanned Compuserve letter files from last night.

Attended church services over Zoom because we are still ill and should isolate for another week. Zaxby’s for lunch after a nap.

Called my cousin and we talked about a lot of things. RSV, we’re pretty sure we have it. Sweating in bed requires light bedding, loose clothing and always a fan. Canker sores might be solved with tums, which we don’t have.

1. Go through newspapers for mail.
2. Put the front yard light back onto the relay module.

Monday *Taxes 7 Days

Tuned up my radio and joined Paul on WW Net first thing this morning. Read some news and checked my E-Mail. We spent some time talking about ending my audio responsibilities and what had transpired last week. We were surprised that GCS is actually in school and providing the UV glasses for the solar eclipse.

Took a bit of a nap and got Zaxby’s salad for lunch. Checked out the Internet to see when the Eclipse will arrive and made some loose plans.

This is a pin hole projected onto a white piece of paper.

Under a tree during an Eclipse, you see these dancing crescents of the Eclipse.

You can see when the solar irradiance dropped from the moon’s shadow.

We had soup for dinner and watched Hallmark movies until bedtime.

Tuesday *Taxes 6 Days

Got onto the radio early this morning and took another long nap. We got up around lunch to go to the pharmacy and Zaxby’s for our lunch. Then another nap before turning on Hallmark for another night of movies while we recover.

Wednesday *Taxes 5 Days

Went to the hospital Early to get a CAT scan, but the appt is not until next week.
Got onto the HF radio and checked in on WW Net. Took a nap, just too tired and walking around like a zombie. We went to Zaxby’s for our lunch salads and the drug store for more meds. The weather is not looking very bad. (I thought we’d be getting thunderstorms.) Took off the cover of our old doorbell which is now a switch for the attic lights. The doorbell white wire insulation has totally disintegrated and will need to be reinforced/replaced before connecting power to it. I did find an electronic door chime that will eliminate the transformer part. I should be able to put this into the double gang box that the original chime was in. I need to move the doorbell wire to the other side of the electrical box to comply with low voltage spacing. It should be pretty easy to withdraw the 28AWG wire and pull it in on the other side.

Watched a video from Jacoby about Once Saved, Always Saved…
Badly need a nap before service starts at 7:30…

Thursday *Taxes 4 days

Checked in on WW and had two eggs and sausage for breakfast. Looked over our bank accounts and I’m holding back on payments until we get our taxes done.
We did get out and get some groceries with a quick run to Wally World. We had turkey chili for lunch and then worked on writing to the girls then another nap. We watched a couple movies and headed to bed.

Friday *Taxes 3 days

Didn’t get onto taxes today, I did not feel very good. We had Zaxby’s for lunch and then another nap. We wrote a couple letters to the girls, the only letter we didn’t get sent was to Africa. Hallmark movies was about all we could manage until we went to bed.

Saturday

Got onto my HF radio, but conditions were difficult for the net this morning.

Sunday *I am in trouble…

There is an issue with the distribution of the estate and the IRS that will have to be worked through.

Week of 25 March

Crazy busy week, didn’t blog much. We had a routine doctor’s appointment on Monday and they blew out my vein in my arm

I had volunteered to do parking lot duty and that required preparation and 4 long hard day’s work starting at 05:15 in the mornings. The task was to monitor a gate to the field where the dog show was and check for passes to the show.

Sunday was Easter and I’ve decided that it’s time for me to let go of the audio duties for the church. It’s too hard for me to continue getting up at 6:30 in the morning every Sunday and running flat out until 2PM.

Monday 1 Apr

My arm is still waay too black and blue from going to the doctor last week.

We went to the doctor and the nurse just said “It Happens” and to put cold compresses on it. We went to Longhorn’s for lunch and returned home for a nap. We shopped for groceries and returned home for another nap.

We watched “The Robe” for our evening entertainment.

Tuesday

Got onto the Waterway net and had trouble copying Uncle Paul from SC. 2 Eggs and sausage for breakfast and trying to get organized for the week. We both wrote up all that we knew of for the month of April in our Day Timers.

I put away all the stuff from my GARS Dog Show volunteer duties.

Severe weather predicted for Tuesday evening, but it didn’t affect us at all.

Wednesday

Got onto Waterway and “Checked-In”, Paul was at a doctor’s appointment.

Put Anti-Freeze in Blue Focus and took it in to get the Emissions done. Paid online for both tags, so that’s done for the year. Put about half a tank of fuel in Blue and rotated vehicles to put the van up next to the garage.

Zaxby’s for lunch at 13:00.

Initiated the replacement and responsibilities for the handicapped parking.

Thursday

Sent a message to the team asking who would take care of the cones and signs.

Friday

Nobody answered my question by 10PM today so I sent a message to the team that I would NOT be buying replacement cones for the ones that the school took.

Sunday

Drove to the school and set out the handicapped signs on the MHS cones that were there.